Page 74 of Room Service
“Wow,” I say on a breath, her words hitting far deeper than I should let them.
“You always wanted to be the centre of attention, monopolising everyone’s time, and it was pathetic to witness,” she continues. “And then you finally did something we could actually be happy about. Marrying Derrick. Securing our futures, until he became a layabout and you couldn’t even muster up the decency to get him back on his feet.”
I scoff, because what the hell? I did everything I could think of to get his lazy arse back to work, even as I hated him, because I thought it was the right thing to do. I now see the right thing to do would have been to walk away from them all the first chance I got.
“He was a good man until you changed him. He was a decent man until you brought him down. He was everything this family needed…” Her voice trails off as I hear her sniff, and my heart starts to race a little faster, because this feels like we’ve gone into new territory but I’m not quite sure what.
“He could have been great, with the right woman behind him, but he needed someone younger, someone who could compete with the office sluts,” she spits, and I get a feeling of dread building inside me.
“He could have had the best, a woman who worshipped him and just wanted to love him, but no, he had to choose someone younger, someone prettier—”
“Oh my god,” I say, cutting her off. “Did you…” I can’t even ask it because it’s too ridiculous for words.
“He was supposed to choose me,” she whispers, and I hear the emotion in her voice, something I haven’t heard from her… ever.
I can barely think straight.
My mother and my husband?
Together?
No, this is some kind of sick joke, surely?
“Did you love him?” I ask quietly, needing her to confirm what I’m thinking and stop me from feeling so disgusting for the thought entering my head.
“Of course I fucking loved him. And then I watched him wither away from the man he once was to what he is now. And it’s all your fault,” she accuses.
“Does Dad know?” I whisper, tears clogging my throat and making it hard to talk.
“Of course he doesn’t know. The stupid fool.”
How did she become this person? So bitter. So twisted. So evil. But then, this has always been her, and it’s only now that I’m realising it.
“I don’t understand why you guilted me into marrying him when you…” My voice trails off as I struggle to form the words needed. I feel like I’m in some kind of sick and twisted film. My mother and my husband… Jesus Christ.
“Because then I could keep him around,” she says quickly, and I wonder if she’s finally lost her mind admitting all of this to me. I mean, she can hardly expect to tell me to go back to him now, but then again, I don’t understand any of this—how she could be so disgusting, how she could essentially pimp out her own daughter for a fucking house and some money, and how she could fuck my husband for God knows how long. “If he didn’t marry you, he could have married some young tart who would never have let me see him. This way, I saw him whenever I wanted to.”
I struggle not to retch. This is madness. Absolute madness. I’ve never heard of anything so fucked-up.
“He should have chosen me,” she croaks, and as she falls apart on the phone, sobbing as if her world has ended, I finally get the closure I needed.
I don’t need to hear anything else. There is no coming back from this, and there is no reasoning with her kind of crazy, because that’s what she is, crazy for even thinking that any of this would ever be acceptable. It’s betrayal of the worse kind, and of the sickest.
And as I finally shut down the guilt I’ve lived with since I can remember, I say the last two words I will ever say to the woman who gave birth to me. “Goodbye, Mother.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
DORIEN
I made it back to the hotel this morning before Elise even woke up, and I made sure to hold her a little tighter as she slept. I have no regrets over Derrick’s death, and I’m yet to show Elise the papers that will release her from the life she hated for so long. I figured I’d do it in a day or two, when Derrick’s suicide note has been found, so as not to arouse suspicion. I know it’s lying to her in a sense, but if I tell her that I was the reason he was murdered, she would become an accessory, knowing about it, and she’s had enough hurt and drama for a lifetime.
It's my job to protect her. I feel it. She’s mine to love and care for. She’s awakened something primal inside of me, and I’ll always fight for her.
I’ve been out all day, working, having to spend time away from her, but my last stop before I go home is the most important. As I pull up to the back of the club, Purity—the club that Nate’s sister, Zoey, owns—I know that I owe Nate, Jax and Ronan a big fucking drink for their part in finding Derrick and making him disappear. He may have taken a stake in my business, but it’s a small price to pay for Elise’s state of mind.
I’m truly putting someone before my own selfish needs, and I never intend to stop.
I walk into the club, being waved past the queue outside by the big fuckers on the door. I guess that means I’m on the guest list. People start to grumble behind me, but I pay them no notice. I couldn’t give a damn if they have to wait all night. I just need to get this done and get back to Elise.
